2014 Topps Archives

I'm not a real big fan of Archives but I'll buy some every year. Last weekend I bought 3 rack-packs, totaling 54 cards (50 base). If I see a blaster, I may buy it. I've got a bunch of Phillies cards from the set coming from eBay.  I wasn't planning to do a big review of the set and now that Night Owl has published an exhaustive (and exhausting) post on Archive, I'm resolved in my plan.

I found 4 of the 50 base cards to have reused photographs which I'll post later in a reprise of an earlier post.

What I want to do now, is show the 3 cards I got for which the players had an actual card in the original set (and which I own).

2014 Topps Archives #31 Steve Carlton

1973 Topps #300 Steve Carlton

I think the photo on the Archives card is from a later season than 1973. I don't think Carlton had that fu manchu 'statch in 1972-1973.

The catcher in the 1973 card is Tim McCarver. McCarver was traded to the Expos June 14, 1972, so this photo can only be from a handful of games early in 1972. Carlton only won two games at home with McCarver catching in 1972, April 19 and May 7. There aren't enough clues in the photo to narrow it down any further.

How do the designs match up? The type fonts look close but the colors don't match. The pitcher silhouette in the bottom right corner is a bit smaller on the Archives card. The 1973 card does not have a Topps logo on it.

2014 Topps Archives #31 Steve Carlton

1973 Topps #300 Steve Carlton

The colors don't quite match up. I like the 1973 cartoon "Steve likes to play billiards". On the 1973 card he is identified as "Steven Norman Carlton" instead of just "Steve Carlton". Also on the 1973 card his home town is listed as St. Louis. He'd just been traded to the Phillies in February from St. Louis so I guess he hadn't had time to move. Note all the fine print at the bottom of the Archives card compared to the 1973 card.

2014 Topps Archives #102 Goose Gossage

1986 Topps #530 Rich Gossage

The biggest difference is that in 1986, Gossage was a Padre. He had left the Yankees after the 1983 season and joined the Padres in 1984. Also note that on the 1986 card he is Rich Gossage. Looking at the Gossage cards I have scanned from this era, it looks like Fleer, Donruss and Topps weren't very consistent in what they called him. One Fleer card actually had "Goose" Gossage.

 2014 Topps Archives #102 Goose Gossage

 1986 Topps #530 Rich Gossage

 Except for all the fine print at the bottom of the Archives card, the designs match pretty well. Note that on the Gossage cards, they give stats through the 1986 season whereas an actual 1986 card would only have stats through 1985. The Carlton Archives card gives stats through 1979 for some reason.

2014 Topps Archives 1987 All-Stars #87-VC Vince Coleman

1989  Topps Glossy All Stars #17 Vince Coleman

 

This is kind of confusing. The set is called "1987 All-Stars" but the Archives card says 1988 on the top. Coleman wasn't actually an All-Star in 1987, but he was in 1988. The Topps card with "1988 All-Star" actually was released in 1989. Topps released these glossy sets from about 1985 through 1991. They had the same design each year. And they were very glossy. The Archives reproduction isn't glossy. The two cards look pretty similar.  The NL logo is smaller on the Archives card. There's no Topps logo on the 1989 card.

2014 Topps Archives 1987 All-Stars #87-VC Vince Coleman

 1989  Topps Glossy All Stars #17 Vince Coleman

The only comment I want to make is the background color. The original card backs were white when issued but they look yellowed today. I used a Photoshop tool to make the 1989 card look white again. The Archives card backs look more like a 25 year old white card would look.